LOCKS UP WHEN INSTALLING DRIVER

I installed a LINKSIS network adapter in a DELL 4100 with WIN ME, pent III,
866 mhz, 256 meg. The hardware wizard recognizes the adapter and the driver
file but locks up when I try to load it. I checked with LINKSIS, & DELL and
they haven't a clue! I'm sure there is a Microsoft genius out there with the
answer. Thanks.

Do you have or have had in the past Norton installed? If so it is
possible that it has filled the windows\inf folder with thousands of
useless zero byte files with names that match the template oem*.inf. If
it has then a) dump Norton it's destroying your system, and b) delete all
the zero byte oem*.inf files (but not those whose size is > 0 bytes). Now
try installing the drivers.

Note that to see the folder C:\Windows\Inf using Windows Explorer it is
necessary to configure Explorer to be able to view hidden system files.
Do this by clicking Tools | Folder Options | View and check "Show hidden
files and folders" and UNcheck "Hide protected operating system files".
--
Mike Maltby
(E-Mail Removed)


TED B <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> I installed a LINKSIS network adapter in a DELL 4100 with WIN ME,
> pent III, 866 mhz, 256 meg. The hardware wizard recognizes the
> adapter and the driver file but locks up when I try to load it. I
> checked with LINKSIS, & DELL and they haven't a clue! I'm sure there
> is a Microsoft genius out there with the answer. Thanks.

Thanks for the tip. I deleted those files years ago for some problem. I have
a note on my computer reading that I ran into problems by deleting them in
windows. I had to delete them from the dos prompt according to Microsoft
article Q218967. I'll have to look for that article and will try your
suggestion.

"Mike M" wrote:

> Do you have or have had in the past Norton installed? If so it is
> possible that it has filled the windows\inf folder with thousands of
> useless zero byte files with names that match the template oem*.inf. If
> it has then a) dump Norton it's destroying your system, and b) delete all
> the zero byte oem*.inf files (but not those whose size is > 0 bytes). Now
> try installing the drivers.
>
> Note that to see the folder C:\Windows\Inf using Windows Explorer it is
> necessary to configure Explorer to be able to view hidden system files.
> Do this by clicking Tools | Folder Options | View and check "Show hidden
> files and folders" and UNcheck "Hide protected operating system files".
> --
> Mike Maltby
> (E-Mail Removed)
>
>
> TED B <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> > I installed a LINKSIS network adapter in a DELL 4100 with WIN ME,
> > pent III, 866 mhz, 256 meg. The hardware wizard recognizes the
> > adapter and the driver file but locks up when I try to load it. I
> > checked with LINKSIS, & DELL and they haven't a clue! I'm sure there
> > is a Microsoft genius out there with the answer. Thanks.
>
>

IT IS FIXED! I had over 19,000 0 byte inf files in windows\inf. Microsoft
article Q281967 tells how to erase the files and Q301540 tells how to locate
the files. Thanks to anyone who attempted to help.

"TED B" wrote:

> I installed a LINKSIS network adapter in a DELL 4100 with WIN ME, pent III,
> 866 mhz, 256 meg. The hardware wizard recognizes the adapter and the driver
> file but locks up when I try to load it. I checked with LINKSIS, & DELL and
> they haven't a clue! I'm sure there is a Microsoft genius out there with the
> answer. Thanks.

"TED B" wrote:

> I installed a LINKSIS network adapter in a DELL 4100 with WIN ME, pent III,
> 866 mhz, 256 meg. The hardware wizard recognizes the adapter and the driver
> file but locks up when I try to load it. I checked with LINKSIS, & DELL and
> they haven't a clue! I'm sure there is a Microsoft genius out there with the
> answer. Thanks.

I'm pleased to read you managed to fix your problem.

However I hardly feel you need a KB article to tell you how to delete a
file but if it helped then that's good. What I do hope is that if you
have any software from Symantec installed that you have now dumped the
spawn of the devil, sorry, Symantec, in the rubbish bin where it belongs.
Symantec is a company living on its past, it hasn't produced any good
software for any modern Microsoft operating system that doesn't cause more
harm than good for at least a decade if not longer.
--
Mike Maltby
(E-Mail Removed)


TED B <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

> IT IS FIXED! I had over 19,000 0 byte inf files in windows\inf.
> Microsoft article Q281967 tells how to erase the files and Q301540
> tells how to locate the files. Thanks to anyone who attempted to help.
>
> "TED B" wrote:
>
>> I installed a LINKSIS network adapter in a DELL 4100 with WIN ME,
>> pent III, 866 mhz, 256 meg. The hardware wizard recognizes the
>> adapter and the driver file but locks up when I try to load it. I
>> checked with LINKSIS, & DELL and they haven't a clue! I'm sure there
>> is a Microsoft genius out there with the answer. Thanks.